The aim of the CEPEJ is to contribute to improving the
quality of justice and the efficiency of its functioning in the
47 Member States of the Council of Europe.

Editorial by the President of the CEPEJ

As
it looks forward to its fifth anniversary at the end of the
year, the CEPEJ is pleased to publicise its activities more
widely by releasing this first issue of its electronic
newsletter, designed as a link with the European judicial
community and members of the public interested in the operation
of the justice system as a public service. The aim of the
newsletter is to highlight the work the CEPEJ is doing to
improve the efficiency and quality of justice in the 47 Council
of Europe member states and also, with each issue, set out some
pointers for debate from guest writers who will honour us by
sharing their views – for which I should like to thank them
straight away. We begin by focusing on the quality of justice,
at a time when the CEPEJ is setting up a working group to
develop means of analysing and measuring a concept that still
needs to be defined, which involves the efficiency, legitimacy
and accountability of judicial systems, as well as user
satisfaction, without, however, calling into question the
fundamental principle of judicial independence. The
contributions by Snježana Bagić, State Secretary at the
Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia,
and Jacques Hamaide, President of the High
Council of Justice of Belgium, will, no doubt, give us
clearer insights into this difficult issue, which we have a duty
to tackle in the spirit of the CEPEJ as an innovative body
within the Council of Europe responsible for facilitating the
implementation of European standards through practical measures
consistent with the actual operation of judicial systems on a
daily basis.

Fausto de SantisPresident of the CEPEJ

Council of Europe always closer to
European citizens

By
establishing the CEPEJ five years ago, the Committee of
Ministers wanted to set up an innovative body to ensure the
effective implementation of European standards of justice for
the benefit of more than 800 million Europeans. Today, the CEPEJ
is an essential body within the European framework of human
rights and the rule of law. Through the launch of this
newsletter it aims to go one step further in targeting
policy-makers, legal professionals, researchers and all European
citizens interested in judicial issues. This initiative is part
of the general policy of the Council of Europe to address the
everyday concerns of people in its 47 member states. The
significant number of cases submitted to the European Court of
Human Rights clearly shows that a more efficient and credible
system of justice is one of these concerns. That is why I
welcome this initiative.

Terry Davis
Secretary General of the Council of Europe

"CEPEJ
already published two Reports about the European Justice Systems
and developed new approaches to optimize time-frames. I wish
CEPEJ all success to improve further quality, fairness and
efficiency of justice for the sake of our citizens."

Brigitte
Zypries
German Minister of Justice

File "Quality of
Justice"

The prerequisites for moving towards quality of justice

On
her way towards the European Union the Republic of Croatia took
and is taking a number of steps to strengthen the justice
sector. The most important step was taken in 2005 when
the Government of the Republic of Croatia passed the Strategy
of the Reform of the Judicial System, and thereafter an Action
Planfor its realisation. The Croatian Parliament
acknowledged these two documents in February 2006. The
Strategy's main goals are to strengthen the rule of law and
independence of the judicial system and to improve its
efficiency. It includes the necessary reform of Croatian court
administration and envisages changes to the management of the
work of the courts. The measures are designed to create a
justice system based on the rule of law, with the full
application of all the elements from the ECHR.
(more...)

Snježana Bagić,State Secretary
Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia

The Quality of Justice: a two-sided issue

The
"quality of justice" is what citizens feel in the face
of litigation, their wishes and their aspirations.
Equity is the key to the concept. A citizen who complains about the
length of proceedings, or a journalist who criticises a
judgment are two examples of how the quality of justice
is perceived in society. What do we mean by the quality
of justice? The answers to this question are many and
varied.
Some say it lies in the quality of judgments: they must
be legally sound, logically structured and
comprehensible to all. For
others the speed of the proceedings and the prompt
delivery of judgment are the fundamental qualities of
justice. Many more consider that treating people with
humanity is a priority, as is the independence of the
judiciary. The legislation in force also affects the
quality of justice. Some people argue that there is no
quality of justice without equal access to justice and
legal assistance. How well the judicial institution
works is another frequently mentioned consideration. And finally, there are those who contend that quality in
justice goes hand in hand with the existence of
alternative, extra-judicial means of settling disputes.
(more...)

The in-depth exploitation of the Report "European judicial
systems - Edition 2006" is going on, to "let the figures speak",
identify trends and draw operational conclusions on several
relevant issues for public policies of justice in the member
states. Specific studies will be finalised before the end of the
year on access to justice, administration and management of
justice systems, use of IT in courts, training of judges and
prosecutors and execution of court decisions.
More information...

Mediation

The
CEPEJ is finalising the drafting of its study for assessing
the impact of the four Council of Europe's recommendations
on mediation (in the civil, family, criminal and administrative
law fields), from which it will propose to the Committee of
Ministers, next autumn, Guidelines to improve the effective
implementation of these instruments in the member states.
More information...

Timeframes of proceedings

the CEPEJ SATURN Centre for judicial time management
has been set up at the beginning of the year and has started working for a better knowledge of judicial timeframes,
per type of cases, in the member states. Indeed, the CEPEJ has noticed that only few detailed figures were
available on length of proceedings, whereas the violation of the concept of reasonable time (Article 6 ECHR)
is the first reason for complaining before the European Court of Human Rights.
More information...

Quality of Justice

A new Working group has been set up instructed to develop means of analyse
and evaluation of the work done inside the courts with a view to improving
quality of the public service delivered by the justice system.
More information...

Publications

Two publications from
"CEPEJ Studies" series will be issued in June 2007:

CEPEJ Studies No2Time management of justice systems:a Northern
Europe study drafted by Ms Mirka Smolej, Researcher at the
National Research Institute of Legal Policy in Finland and Mr
Jon T. Johnsen, Professor in Law, Dean, Faculty of law,
University of Oslo, Norway

CEPEJ Studies No3Length of court proceedings in the member states of the Council of
Europe based on the case-law of the
European Court of Human Rightsby Ms Françoise Calvez, judge,
France

To book those publications,
please send us an
e-mail at the following address:
cepej@coe.int.